ewly unemployed Americans now number in the tens of millions. The Congressional Budget Office says the unemployment rate will reach 14% and 16% in the second and third quarters. Many of those people won’t have jobs to return to. That means millions of permanently lost jobs—and for millions more, hours cut from full to part time…and benefits trimmed, if not erased altogether.

If Covid-19 was a left jab squarely to the jaw, lost jobs are the punishing right hook about to land.

Right now, Americans are being paid to stay home and do nothing. Which is exactly what we need to do. This must make heads explode among the faux “budget hawks”, some of whom are beginning to say they don’t know how much more the federal government can afford to “give away.” (This apparently was not a concern when the Trump tax cuts shoveled cash to already astoundingly rich individuals and largest corporations.)

So, if the thought of keeping afloat millions of regular American families is already discomforting them…why don’t we just suggest a plan that will send them screaming into the night.

t the end of World War II, the American economy didn’t just stagger back to life—it skyrocketed. It’s sometimes called “The Golden Age of Capitalism”. Americans were ready to rebuild lives and willing to spend what was needed to underwrite them. Companies multiplied production. New forms of service industries emerged. The Baby Boom was born. Sales of houses and cars soared. There were skyscrapers, suburbs and hula hoops. It was that magical interim between despair and entitlement.

And there’s a way to measure that prosperity. Growth in the U.S. Gross Domestic Product—which in recent years has averaged about 2% in the majority of those post war years—stretched to between five and nine percent. Good times, indeed.

And this was achieved in the face of three things that modern “conservatives” swear are poison to growth:

High marginal tax rates: ranging as high as 90% for the wealthiest Americans.
Labor union membership: the highest in American history.
Federal government employment: at the end of the Eisenhower era in the late 50’s, there was one federal employee for every 78 Americans; by the time Obama left office (before the Trump cuts) it was only one for every 158 citizens. Conservatives in Washington thought we didn’t need government so much anymore.

Somehow a golden age unfolded even in the face of the very things that the very tippy-top of the economy will always claim hold America back.

This is certainly a different time; right now, things are bad. But it’s not an entirely hopeless one. As Scott Miller proposed in his “Progress in a Time of Contagion”, great crises also offer great opportunity. In fact, irreplaceable opportunity. And the prospect of millions of Americans without jobs defines an historic opportunity to pay workers not to sit at home, but to serve their fellow Americans.

Now is the time to plan for a much larger federal government.

book called American Amnesia from a couple years ago lays out an irrefutable case for the absolute requirement of balancing the power of the federal government against free enterprise; simply put, a “mixed economy” produces the most prosperity. In a simplistic image, that balance would look something like this:

So, who’s the good guy there? Who’s the bad guy? Outside of the Koch brothers and AOC, most people would say, “well…it depends.” And it does. Have either one fall off that teeter totter and there’s disaster. No Uncle Sam? We’re in full-scale plutocracy (and we’re not that far away now). Knock off the private markets? Hello communism—no bueno. Once the platform smacks bottom on either side, we’re doomed. Better balance is better for everyone.

The Amnesia book clearly shows how the right wing began trying to push the federal government off the board beginning (in earnest) in the Reagan years. And it’s only gotten worse since. Congress has become a lobbying arm for huge business, to the economic detriment of everyone below the top 10%. The Trump presidency and the current Supreme Court offer no resistance—in fact, they’re enablers.

So, what now? And why now?

In this moment of crisis, Congress has already blinked. All but the most out-of-touch right-wingers knew they’d never be reelected if they opposed the first $2T of emergency spending. The tally in the Senate was unanimous. More votes are on the way.

And once the economic impact shows itself to be as devastating as the medical one, they may blink again. This is the “fleeting and mercurial” moment that Scott described.

So, let’s act.

his is not intended to be a comprehensive list. These are the initial measures that come to mind. They’re imagined with one unifying purpose—to make America a better place:

Contact Tracing: When someone tests positive with the virus, it’s essential to locate everyone that victim has recently interacted with. Fortunately, work has already begun. There is an ample pool of idled workers who can be trained and deployed to do this work.
Infrastructure: Donald Trump, of all people, is already talking about this. The implied reference here is to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) authored by Congress and FDR (ewww…a socialist!) during the 1930’s. It put people to work who otherwise wouldn’t be. The results included roads, bridges, and upgrades to our invaluable national parks and monuments. This time around, a lot of the money would be needed to repair many of those crumbling improvements.
Energy: This is a big one…coming at exactly the right time. Look, most of the current energy behemoths know their days are numbered. Their lobbying efforts continue to reap tens of billions of dollars in government support. (Yes, fellow taxpayers, our tax dollars aren’t fighting depletion of the atmosphere—we’re supporting it.) A shift in priorities to wind, solar and other clean alternatives is inevitable. So, let’s jump-start the process now with people who would be glad to be paid to implement the transition.
FDA/CDC: I don’t have to repeat the failures in funding and performance by the federal government in the face of the pandemic. The agencies we now depend on are the same ones Trump tried to eviscerate. But here’s another one for your consideration. The federal government has only enough manpower and money to inspect a quarter of all facilities that produce and package our foods. Does that make you feel better?
IRS: Quick math point here. Every dollar spent on tax enforcement yields $6 in added revenue. So why does it make sense to continue cutting auditors? Why pass laws that allow companies to shield their tax obligations overseas? Tax cheats need to pay up—beginning with our largest corporations. We need more auditors to track them.
The Affordable Care Act: Remember when this used to be popular? Get ready…because it’s coming back. Of course, the medical and drug industries hated it because they couldn’t profit off it the same way. Then the radical left attacked from the opposite direction, because it didn’t go far enough. Only 8% of Americans realize that it both expanded coverage and reduced costs.
When Biden is elected, things will progress as they always should have. First, a government-funded plan will be offered as an option to workers already covered by private insurance. Because the ACA does not have to turn a profit and can begin negotiating costs, it will have a sizable advantage over private plans; i.e., at least in theory, that means the same care for less cost. As it does grow market share, it will require a considerable administrative increase in federal and state work forces. So let’s get added people on the job—pronto.
The Arts: Do we need this? The WPA also put artists to work—more than 10,000 of them—photographers, artists, sculptors, writers, muralists, etc. Their ranks included Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Walker Evans, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollack…and support for African American artists in Harlem, and Native American creators in the west. They were paid less than $24 a week. They gladly took t—and created masterworks. (Below, panels from Thomas Hart Benson’s expansive America Today mural (1931), New York Museum of Art)

To repeat, this time of crisis offers opportunity--on a grand scale. We’re in the midst of disruption, disorientation and destruction. Things will never be “normal” again. There will be a new normal. So why not make it a better “normal”?

I know—sounds like unicorn thinking. So let’s get real. Could these things really happen? Could a master plan actually include the kinds of progress outlined above?

Let me make one point. We’re obviously aware that Donald Trump views the economy as pivotal to his reelection, and there are two numbers that most occupy him—unemployment and the Down Jones average. If people are on government payrolls, that takes them off unemployment. And if those people are no longer counted as unemployed. They’re also out spending—which boosts the fortunes of the big business trading on Wall Street.

And clearly he’s got no concerns about how much this would cost. He’s already gone bankrupt five times. So what if the federal government is #6? He needs to get reelected.

But I want to also add one more proviso here. Just because a business is big doesn’t make it bad. As long as the corporate world is viewed as a kind of monolith, zealously manning the ramparts in defense of the quarterly balance sheet, nothing will change.

This stereotype is like every other one; it’s erroneous. Turns out the big corporations will turn reasonable…if they’re forced to.

So, let’s end with an encouraging example.

here’s an organization called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), formed in 1973. Its function is encompassed in that word “exchange”. What these people do is write templates for far-right laws—many outrageous, to be sure--and then distribute them for consideration in front of state and local governments across the country. ALEC members inside legislatures act as sponsors and surrogates. At one point, ALEC members included 25% of all state legislators in America. Those bills got plenty of support.

For a while, they pushed for exactly what you’d expect: lower business taxes, less regulation, more “free market”. They proposed legislation supporting Enron…and penalizing homeowners who tried to install their own solar energy panels. Longstanding corporate advisers to ALEC included Exxon, Pfizer, AT&T, State Farm Insurance and (of course) Koch Industries.

They were so successful that they then decided, “hey, while we’re doing so well protecting our corrupt business practices—why not just use the this to fix the whole damn country?”

So, they decided to: tackle illegal voting (a menace that never existed); curb sanctuary cities (who needs empathy?); enforce “three strikes” sentencing laws (now demonstrated failures); prevent local governments from providing free broadband; attack Obamacare (of course); fight homosexuality (leads to pedophilia, they said); and, prevent citizens from protesting in favor of animal rights (“Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act”). When you see a crazy law introduced in your statehouse, there’s a good chance ALEC is behind it.

But they finally went too far with their full-fledged push for “stand your ground” laws. The “exchange” passed near-copycat legislation in 30 states.

Then, in 2012, Travon Martin was killed in Florida.

There was a stampede of sponsors out ALEC’s doors. Turning tail were Microsoft, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, General Motors. Kraft Foods, McDonald’s, Amazon, Apple, Proctor and Gamble and Walmart—among 60 departures in all.

Then, after ALEC began questioning climate change science, Ford, British Petroleum, Google and Royal Dutch Shell were among more who also said goodbye.

Now, you can legitimately question whether these companies had any excuse for getting involved with ALEC in the first place. Fair enough.

But I choose to see this as a sign that there is a breaking point for even the biggest corporations. With enough citizen outrage, media coverage and negative feedback, they will act not only in their best interests—but also those of society.

nd that’s where a stronger federal government proves its worth. If it serves its proper function as a balance to big business and the couple hundred richest families in the country, we wouldn’t need citizens to mobilize. The government would already have our backs.

This is the mercurial moment. In crisis. There is opportunity. There will be millions who find themselves looking for a steady job. They want and deserve to work. The government can be ready to do the hiring.

Not just for the benefit of those workers.

But for all of us.

Have a comment or thought on this? Just hit the Your Turn tab here or email us at mailbox@cascadereview.net to have your say.

Issue 10

Corona Cure: Up With Big Government

By Don Varyu